The Favourite

Published July 13, 2019

Film info

Title The Favourite

Director Yorgos Lanthimos

Year 2018

Run time 2hrs

Genres Drama, Comedy, History

Tagline How goes the kingdom?

In early 18th-century England, a frail Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) occupies the throne and her closest friend, Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz), governs the country while tending to Anne's health. When new servant Abigail (Emma Stone) arrives, Sarah takes Abigail under her wing as she cunningly schemes to return to her aristocratic roots, setting off an outrageous rivalry to become the Queen's favourite.

Live blog

Time

Comment

5:30

“I hoped I might be employed here by you as something.” Ahh, ambition.

8:32

I don’t much like their showering system.

15:12

That is one heck of an overdecorated bedroom.

18:03

Lost a child in a card game? That’s not great.

19:35

“Must the duck be here?”

27:38

You could do a lot of damage swinging around in those giant skirts.

32:07

Why is there a bed in the library though?

33:27

“Am I to understand you are smart?”

36:27

They’ve gone to great pains to hide the door in her bedroom, but I think I would be freaked out in a room with no door.

45:11

“A man must look pretty.”

51:32

“Did you sleep well?” “Like a shot badger.” Erm…

1:02:41

Must be doubly annoying that she brought this woman into the Queen’s circle anyway.

1:12:35

“Do not speak to me” How good to have power.

1:27:14

That really will leave a scar.

1:30:14

Blackmail must be a properly last resort.

1:36:17

“My maid is on the way up with something called a pineapple.” There are some very weird sentences in this.

1:41:47

The c word isn’t an ideal word to start an apology letter.

1:47:38

The walking backwards thing is very tricky when the rooms are so big.

Thoughts

Not really a fan of this one, I have to admit. I did think going into it that it was going to be kinda arty and maybe a bit hard-going but it surpassed my expectations.

First, the good: I quite liked how quirky the script was. Weird sentences and funny moments. Not sure it came to any kind of satisfying conclusion but then again I don’t actually know what a satisfying conclusion would have been. Just disappointing that no one ended up happy.

Also thought Olivia Colman was excellent. The interplay between all three of them was good actually, it’s just a shame that I didn’t enjoy what they were working with.

So, yea, the bad. I didn’t like the camera work, it felt like it was trying too hard and actually ended up looking quite cheap. I also thought the music and sound was awful. Irritating and repetitive and just not good. The typeface is weird, the story as mentioned disappointing, the comedy came out of weird moments - should we be laughing at a queen who is clearly very unwell and being manipulated? Not sure. Generally just a thumbs down.

I wanted to like it more than I did, I really didn’t enjoy it but I guess I’m glad I saw it as a piece of culture. And I’m very happy Olivia Colman got the Oscar.